The academics behind a landmark study of ability grouping have published best practice advice for schools that place pupils into sets.

The list of six dos and six don’ts from the UCL Institute of Education aims to address some of the concerns about setting raised by their research.

These included findings about children being misallocated to sets - particularly black pupils and girls in maths - and the expertise of teachers assigned to lower sets and the confidence of pupils in these groups.

Here is the “Dos and don’ts of setting” advice in full:

1. Do make setting as subject-specific as possible

The negative effects of streaming - grouping students based on general “ability” - on attainment and self-confidence are widely documented. The streaming approach also undermines the perceived benefits of attainment grouping (homogeneity of attainment in a group), given that students have different attainment for different subject areas. Instead, group students for maths according to maths attainment, for English by English attainment and so on.

2. Do group students by attainment only

Current attainment can be a reliable way of grouping students, based on what they know and can do. Other measures, such as “effort” or “attitude to work” are often influenced by negative stereotypes without teachers realising.

3. Do retest regularly and move students between groups

Students are motivated by the belief that when they work hard they will be rewarded by moving up a group. Regularly testing and moving students can act as an incentive and also destigmatise belonging to lower sets. Retesting and movement are also necessary to ensure that set groups reflect homogeneous attainment levels.

4. Do use a lottery system when assigning borderline students to sets

This mitigates the introduction of bias in assigning students from particular backgrounds to lower or higher sets.

5. Do make sure all students have access to a rich curriculum

Students in all sets will benefit from exciting subject knowledge and a wide range of activities. Being in a low set shouldn’t mean you miss out on problem-solving or creative opportunities.

6. Do apply high expectations to all sets

Keep expectations for learning opportunities, curriculum, behaviour and homework consistent and high across all sets.

7. Don’t set by timetable convenience

Attainment grouping can be less fair when the timetable forces particular outcomes; for example, by preventing students from moving between groups. Aim to have a timetable that works to the benefit of students.

8. Don’t extrapolate setting across subjects

If the timetable requires students to be in the same group for two or more subjects, you are no longer setting (rather, you are introducing elements of streaming). Students have different levels of attainment in different subjects, so a high attainer in English is not necessarily a high attainer in MFL. Hence, linking subjects in such ways is likely to narrow opportunities for individual students as well as undermine the principle of subject-specific setting.

9. Don’t assign subject expert teachers only to top sets

Lower sets can benefit greatly from subject experts, whose depth of understanding can help them to explain subject material much more clearly.

10. Don’t give less homework to low sets

Research has found that students in low sets tend to receive less homework. But being in a low set shouldn’t mean fewer opportunities for learning development - and this includes homework.

11. Don’t provide low sets with a ‘dumbed down’ curriculum

If lower sets are taught a different curriculum from higher sets, it can be impossible for students to move groups, and it can impoverish students’ knowledge and skills. Make sure all students have access to a curriculum that gives them the best chances.

12. Don’t leave students in sets without regular testing

Students can be motivated by knowing that they can move sets. It is more helpful for students to believe that they can improve their attainment through effort than that they have a fixed amount of “ability” that means they need to stay in a low set.

Professor Becky Francis, director of the UCL Institute of Education, and her colleague Jeremy Hodgen will outline the findings of the best practice in grouping students project at the ResearchED conference in London tomorrow.

This is an edited article from the 7 September edition of Tes. Subscribers can read the full article here. To subscribe, click here. This week’s Tes magazine is available in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here.